Victory Chronicles
-DAY 338

KEY TAKEAWAYS TODAY: MOSCOW THROWS A LETHAL TANTRUM OVER ALLY TANK PLEDGES

Above: January 26, enemy missiles, drones, artillery, mortars rain down across Ukraine. (LiveUAMap)

***UPDATE***

Refreshed count of Western main battle tanks for #Ukraine. Challenger 2, M1 Abrams and Leopard 2…

Between 73 (confirmed) and 175, excluding Canada pic.twitter.com/7H8TD65e8R

— H I Sutton (@CovertShores) January 26, 2023

• 11 people were killed and 11 wounded in a wave of Russian missile attacks across Ukraine the day after the US and Germany agreed to deliver tanks to Kyiv. In addition to routine attacks on frontline population centers, missile strikes were reported in Vinnytsia, Odesa and Kyiv oblasts. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 47 of the 59 air and sea-based missiles fired by the enemy from the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea and Belarus. forces fired at Ukraine. Twenty of the incoming missiles were shot down headed for Kyiv.
• As is a typical pattern, the missile barrage was preceded by an early morning drone According to preliminary estimates by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian troops attacked Ukraine with 24 Shahed-136 kamikaze drones on January 26. All drones were destroyed by the Ukrainian Defense Forces, the General Staff said.
• Putin continued his campaign against critical media by cracking down on several major opposition news outlets, signing a law on January 25 banning  publication, distribution, or financial support of several major Russian-language media, including Meduza, Important Stories, Bellingcat, The Bell, and The Insider, effectively adminiting that truth is the enemy of the Kremlin and threatens the “foundations of the constitutional order and security” of Russia.
• Russian forces are continuing to forcibly mobilize Ukrainian residents in occupied territories and sending them to frontline positions without proper provisions and training. The Russian military may be engaging in this substandard force generation effort to decrease the Ukrainian population in occupied territories and support a likely deliberate ethnic cleansing campaign.

General Staff’s Daily Video Digest with English subtitles

GENERAL STAFF DAILY ENEMY LOSSES

Above: Ukrainian forces shooting down Iranian Shahed kamikaze drones. (UkraineWorld)

General Staff on Facebook

Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces estimated enemy losses since February 24, 2022 (with daily additions)

• Liquidated personnel, 124,710 (+850)
• Tanks, 3,182 (+7)
• Armored personnel vehicles, 6,340 (+6)
• Artillery systems/MLRS, 2,180/452 (+11/0)
• Anti-aircraft warfare systems, 221 (+1)
• Aircraft/helicopters, 292/283 (+0/1)
• UAV operational-tactical level, 1,941 (+33)
• Cruise missiles, 796 (+47)
• Warships/boats, 18 (0)
• Vehicles and fuel tanks, 5,001 (+15)
• Special equipment, 199 (+4)

GENERAL STAFF CIVILIAN MISSILE STRIKES

Above: Enemy strikes on civilian infrastructure, here in Zaporizhzhya, resulted in deaths yesterday. (Zaporiz’ka Oblast Prosecutor)

Above: The enemy eliminates family homes for no reason but the joy of Ukrainian suffering. (Voice of America)

Above: Small children see the results of missile attacks in their Kyiv Oblast neighborhood yesterday. (BBC)

Glory to Ukraine! The three hundred and thirty-eighth day of the Russian large-scale invasion has begun.

• Over the past 24 hours, the enemy has carried out 44 airstrikes, 18 of them – with the use of Shahed-136 UAVs. All kamikaze drones have been shot down. He launched 70 missiles, 47 of which were destroyed. Also, he carried out 125 attacks from rocket salvo systems. Unfortunately, as a result of enemy strikes, civilians were killed and civilian objects were destroyed.
• The danger of air and missile strikes remains high throughout the territory of Ukraine.
• Units of the Defense Forces of the past day repelled the attacks of the occupiers in the areas of the settlements of Ploshanka, Nevske and Chervonpopivka in the Luhansk region and Verkhnyokamianske, Paraskoviivka, Bakhmut, Klishchiivka, Vodyane, Nevelske, Maryinka and Vugledar in the Donetsk
• Areas of settlements of Tymonovychi and Senkivka of Chernihiv region were subjected to artillery shelling; Timofiivka, Pavlivka, and Velyka Pisarivka in Sumy Oblast, as well as Strelecha, Ternova, Varvarivka, Staritsa, Vovchanski Khutory, Okhrimivka, Budarky, Kolodyazne, and Novomlynsk in Kharkiv
• In the Kupyansk direction, the enemy shelled Dvorichne, Synkivka, Podola, Orlyanka, Pishchane, Tabaivka, Berestov, and Lozova in the Kharkiv region; Stelmakhivka in the Luhansk region, as well as Ivanivka in the Donetsk
• On the Lymanskyi direction, the districts of Makiyivka, Nevsky, Chervonpopivka, Kreminnaya, Dibrova, and Kuzmyny of the Luhansk region, as well as Yampolivka in the Donetsk region, came under enemy fire.
• In the direction of Bakhmut, Spirne, Bilogorivka, Rozdolivka, Krasna Gora, Paraskoviivka, Bakhmut, Klishchiivka, Bila Gora, Severnye and New York of the Donetsk region were damaged by fire.
• Berdychi, Avdiivka, Vodiane, Krasnohorivka, Georgiivka, and Maryinka were shelled in the Avdiivka
• Vugledar, Velyka Novosilka, and Vremivka of the Donetsk region were damaged by fire in the Novopavlovsk
• In the Zaporizhzhia region, more than 20 settlements were affected by artillery fire, in particular, Novopil in Donetsk, as well as Poltavka, Chervone, Gulyaipole, Zaliznychne, Mala Tokmachka, Novodanilivka, Orihiv, Novoandriivka, and Stepove in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and Vyshchetarasivka in Dnipropetrovsk
• In the Kherson direction, the occupiers shelled Kherson again.

Believe in the Armed Forces! Together we will win! Glory to Ukraine!

KHARKIV-LUHANSK

Above: Ongoing destruction of enemy ordinance around Kharkiv.  (Khariv Times)

Map via ISW

DONETSK-ZAPORIZHZHYA

Above:  At great risk, volunteers are taking care of abandoned pets in Bakhmut. (Nate Mook)

Bakhmut. The shelling of the city by Russians. pic.twitter.com/Sgm2ZkVn7n

— Dénes Törteli 🇪🇺🇭🇺🇺🇦 (@DenesTorteli) January 27, 2023

Map via ISW

• Russian forces continued ground attacks around Bakhmut on January 26.Ukrainian troops repelled Russian attacks on Bakhmut itself; northeast of Bakhmut near Verkhnokamyanske (30km northeast), Blahodatne (8km northeast), Spirne (27km northeast), and Rozdolivka (15km northeast); and south of Bakhmut near Klishchiivka (7km southwest).
• Wagner forces conducted 39 combat clashes in one day in the Bakhmut direction, losing almost an entire battalion in combat clashes on January 25 alone. Wagner Group is using small unit tactics and squad-sized assault detachments of four to five people to attack and infiltrate urban areas of Bakhmut.
• Russian forces continued ground attacks on the western outskirts of Donetsk City on January 26. Ukrainian troops repelled a Russian attack on Marinka, on the southwestern outskirts of Donetsk City.
• Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks in western Donetsk Oblast on January 26. Russian troops attacked Vuhledar and Pavlivka, about 30km southwest of Donetsk City. A video taken by Ukrainian troops in the Vuhledar area shows heavy smoke near Vuhledar, and a Ukrainian soldier stated that Russian forces are actively storming the settlement.
• Satellite imagery reportedly shows a a Wagner Group-operated cemetery in Bakinskaya, Krasnodar Krai  expanding by a factor of seven between Nov 24, 2022, and Jan 24, 2023. The Wagner Group began using the burial site after it reportedly ran out of space at a Wagner-affiliated chapel in the nearby town of Goryachy Klyuch, which had 882 burial compartments.
• Russian social media showed video of a reconnaissance group of the Russian Airborne Forces operating in eastern Ukraine that is completely comprised of football hooligan club members, lauded as one of the best enemy troop formations fighting in Ukraine.

KHERSON-ZAPORIZHZHYA-CRIMEA

Above: Satellite image of the Kerch Strait Bridge.  Occupation authorities announced that the bridge will be closed to automobile traffic at the end of January for ongoing repairs.  (Radio Svoboda)

Above: Current stage of repairs to Kerch Strait Bridge, Crimea, Ukraine. (NOEL)

Above: US General Ben Hodges at Yavoriv military training center, Lviv, Ukraine, Nov 2016.  In an editorial published in The Telegraph Thursday, the Retired General of the US Army in Europe laid out the imperative for the allies to help Ukraine take back Crimea in order to bring security to Europe. 

“The Ukrainian General Staff have set an amazing example for military planners in Europe. Their activities are methodical, professional and disciplined. Their understanding of operational design on the battlefield, and operational security, has never been matched by the Russians. So we can safely conclude that, with the right weapons, Ukraine can prevent a major Russian breakthrough just about anywhere on the battlefield. But more than that, Ukraine can retake Crimea this year.”- Retired General of the US Army in Europe, Ben Hodges.  (The Telegraph)

Map via ISW

• Ukrainian officials reported that Russian forces in Zaporizhia Oblast are not conducting offensive operations at the size or scale necessary for a full-scale offensive. Russian forces have not massed a powerful enough strike group to conduct an offensive in the Zaporizhia direction, but have somewhat strengthened their manpower presence in Zaporizhia Oblast at the cost of other units and directions of advance.
• Russian and Ukrainian sources continued to report that Russian forces shelled areas that occupation authorities recently claimed to control, including Novodanylivka, Mala Tokmachka, Novoandriivka, Kamianske and Bilohirya.
• Russian officials in occupied Crimea are conducting preparatory measures for a new wave of Crimean mobilization and are requiring all state and private institutions in Crimea to submit lists of employees for mobilization to military recruitment offices by January 29.
• Russian occupation officials seized the building of a Protestant church in Melitopol and are persecuting representatives of faiths other than the Kremlin-backed Moscow Patriarchate Orthodox Church. The ironically named Kremlin-funded Russian Association for the Protection of Religious Freedom is responsible for promoting religious freedom by seizing the property of non-Russian churches.